Library
The rules, research and records behind what we say. Wherever we can, we link to the official copy so you can read it for yourself.
Rules and guidelines
The laws and official guidance that apply to quarries in Victoria.
Separation distance guideline
Sets a 500 m separation distance for a quarry with respirable crystalline silica (Table 4), and explains when and how that can be varied.
Read on EPA’s siteGuidance for assessing nuisance dust
How dust risk to neighbours is assessed, including how slope, distance and open ground between a source and homes raise it.
Read on EPA’s siteMineral Resources (Sustainable Development) Act 1990
The Act under which quarry work plans and work authorities are approved, including its objectives and principles of sustainable development (sections 2 and 2A).
Read on Victorian LegislationWork plan guideline for extractive industry projects
What a quarry work plan must contain, including the community engagement plan and the risk assessment.
Read on Resources Victoria’s siteMaterial sources for the production of crushed rock and aggregates
Victoria’s road specification for source rock. Siltstone, mudstone and shale are rated sound, marginal or unsound by a wear test (the Ball Mill Value). An official yardstick for whether a rock is fit for road use.
Read on the VicRoads standards siteGeotechnical guideline for terminal and rehabilitated slopes
Treats mudstone and shale as soft rock, uses 1 in 3 (about 18 degrees) as the reference slope for soft rock, and requires a full assessment by a qualified geotechnical engineer for any final wall over 15 m high.
Read on Resources Victoria’s siteCommunity engagement principles
Resources Victoria’s own commitment to “genuine and informed prior consultation” with affected communities.
Read the PDFModel code of practice: managing risks of respirable crystalline silica
National guidance on controlling silica dust at work. In Victoria the binding rules are the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations 2017, enforced by WorkSafe Victoria.
Read on Safe Work Australia’s siteDust containing crystalline silica in the extractive industry
WorkSafe’s guidance for quarries. Lists the activities that generate silica dust, including mobile plant on unsealed roads, and when air monitoring is required.
Read on WorkSafe’s siteMonographs Volume 100C: silica dust
The World Health Organization’s cancer agency classifies crystalline silica dust as a Group 1 carcinogen: it causes lung cancer.
Read on IARC’s siteRecommended land use separation distances
The Northern Territory recommends 600 m for a quarry with respirable crystalline silica. Shows where standards elsewhere already sit.
Read the PDFErosion Management Overlay (EMO1)
Council’s planning control for land at risk of landslip and erosion. All of the proposed quarry area and the existing quarry sit inside it (our mapping on Vicmap Planning data).
Read Council’s amendment pageResearch and reports
Independent surveys and studies. The two Hoddle Range reports were commissioned by Prom Coast Ecolink before the quarry proposal and are shared with its agreement.
Flora and fauna assessment of Hoddle Range Nature Conservation Reserve
Field survey by an accredited assessor. Records Bog Gum and Slender Tree-fern (both critically endangered in Victoria) and Gang-gang Cockatoos in the reserve.
Burrowing crayfish (Engaeus) surveys, Hoddle Range Nature Conservation Reserve
Targeted survey of Golden Creek. Records the South Gippsland Burrowing Crayfish, listed as endangered in Victoria.
Laboratory testing and classification of mudrocks: a review
Peer-reviewed review of how mudstones, siltstones and shales break down when wet, and the standard tests used to measure it. Durability varies widely, even within one rock type, which is why the rock itself needs testing.
Read the paperTechnical guidelines for the design and construction of shale embankments
US Federal Highway Administration guidance. Some shales are rocklike when dug but soften after placement, causing settlement and failure. Water drives the breakdown.
Read the paperImproved material specifications for unsealed roads
The standard method for choosing gravel-road surface material. Material outside the right range of fines and plasticity becomes slippery when wet, potholes or ravels.
Read the paperRoad safety star ratings for Victorian roads
The official safety ratings for Victoria’s main roads, from 1 star (highest risk) to 5 stars, assessed every 100 metres under the national AusRAP method. Meeniyan-Promontory Road at the existing quarry entrance is rated 1 star. Open government data.
Get the data (Data Vic) About the ratings (Austroads)The effects of dust on vegetation: a review
The standard scientific review of how dust affects plants. Dust settling on leaves can shade them, block their pores and change growth, and the effects depend on the type and amount of dust.
Read the paperEffects of inert dust on olive leaves
Dust applied to olive leaves cut chlorophyll and photosynthesis and partly closed the leaf pores. The authors conclude dust could reduce olive productivity.
Read the abstractOlive trees under dust from a limestone quarry
Near a quarry in Türkiye, dust and trace metals rose closer to the pit, and settled dust exceeded the limit at the nearest site. Olive leaves there had less chlorophyll, lower photosynthesis and signs of stress.
Read the abstractCement dust and the growth and yield of olive trees
Olive trees beside a cement works in Türkiye grew up to 50% less and bore up to 55.6% less fruit than an unaffected tree. Cement dust forms a crust, so it is harsher than quarry dust.
Read the abstractHow steep a shale cutting can be
Two US state road authorities set the same rule: cut slopes in shale, siltstone and other soft rocks no steeper than 2 horizontal to 1 vertical (about 27 degrees).
Iowa DOT 200F-8 Missouri DOT 321.1.1.2Landslides in the Strzelecki Ranges (former Shire of Narracan)
A state government study of landslides in the clay soils that form on the Strzelecki Ranges’ Cretaceous rocks. It found road and rail cuttings, poorly sited dams and clearing contributed to nearly all slope failures, and recommended limiting hillside cutting.
Read the study (Victorian Resources Online)School bus near miss on Prom Road
A school bus carrying 16 students ended up in an embankment on Meeniyan-Promontory Road at Fish Creek. No one was hurt. The local MP, Danny O’Brien, said he understood the bus “met a truck coming the other way and had to swerve”, and called for the road to be widened.
Read the articleTribunal and regulator decisions
How Victoria’s tribunal and regulator have decided other quarry and mining proposals. Each turned on its own facts.
Gibson v Alpine Shire Council [2019] VCAT 1979
Stone extraction refused with houses about 100 to 140 m away. EPA’s separation distance treated as the default without a site-specific assessment, with the onus on the new use.
Read on AustLIIBCA Asset Management v Benalla Rural City Council [2024] VCAT 330
Sand quarry refused, nearest house 132 m. Falling short of the separation distance raised the scrutiny applied to dust, and the lack of testable dust evidence counted against it.
Read on AustLIIHanson Construction Materials v Head, DJPR [2023] VCAT 49
The Lysterfield quarry work plan variation, refused because a referral authority objected. VCAT upheld the refusal.
Read on AustLIIAustral Bricks v Mitchell Shire Council [2018] VCAT 1115
Clay quarry approved. Silica risk was found low because of the rock type, wet extraction and real air monitoring results.
Read on AustLIIStatement of reasons: Avonbank mineral sands licence (MIN008642)
How the Minister’s delegate weighed the Act’s sustainable development principles, health and community impacts in a recent decision. A mining licence, not a quarry, but the same decision-maker.
Read the PDFSilica monitoring around an operating quarry
South Australia’s EPA is assessing 12 months of respirable crystalline silica monitoring around Hanson’s White Rock Quarry, against an interim criterion of 3 micrograms per cubic metre (annual average). We know of no such monitoring at Fish Creek.
Read the EPA pageOur analysis
How we worked out the figures we use, so anyone can check them. These are our own work, not the proponent’s or a regulator’s.
Homes within 500 m: how we counted
Data sources, how house yards were mapped under EPA’s method, and how distances to the work authority boundaries were measured. The basis of the 18-home figure.
Read the method note (PDF)The pit concept and line of sight
How we drew the pit on the proponent’s own preliminary boundary using government elevation data, and how we checked which homes would see it. Our concept, based on information provided to date by Fish Creek Quarries’ environmental consultant.
Read the method note (PDF)FOI and correspondence
Documents released to us, and replies to our questions, that are safe to share. Personal details are removed.
Letter confirming no application lodged
Resources Victoria’s confirmation that no work authority application had been lodged for the proposed quarry.
Silica documents for the existing quarry
Includes the operator’s laboratory results (63 to 66% quartz) and confirms WorkSafe held no respirable silica air monitoring for the site.
Inspection of the existing quarry (DHR-402067)
Inspection after our request. Conditions were wet on the day; the site committed to silica exposure monitoring in drier conditions, and WorkSafe to a follow-up inspection.
Reply on local quarry materials
On materials for its Barry Beach Marine Terminal works, Woodside told us: “We are not aware of any quarries within the immediate Fish Creek district that presently supply material that meets the specifications required.”
Know of something that should be here?
Research, records or photos about the Hoddle Range and the Prom Coast. Email info@promcoastguardians.org. We check everything against its source before it goes up.
We acknowledge the Bunurong and Gunaikurnai peoples, the Traditional Owners of the lands and waters where we live and work. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present, and recognise their continuing connection to Country.
